There’s a chance that the staff at the Alhambra monument could be going on strike on the 5th and 6th of next month; i.e., right in the middle of Semana Santa.
It all depends on what comes out of the meeting on Monday the 20th between their unions (CGT, USTEA and UGT) and the Palace’s Tourism Board using the Junta de Andalucía’s arbitration service,. SERCLE.
The staff had voted for strike action on the 13th of December should their demands not be met. However two major trade unions decided not to get involved: the CCOO and CSIF.
The strike committee Spokeswoman, María Carreño, said that she hoped that it would not end in strike action because “it would be very cruel during this holiday period.”
So why a looming strike? The answer is that the unions consider that there is a shortage of personnel and there is ongoing outsourcing of services. In fact, they consider that an extra 200 personnel would be necessary to avoid the privatisation of this publicly-owned company and to be able to “offer visitors a quality service.”
This lack of personnel supposedly affects the gardening, cleaning, maintenance and security departments.
As far as the Alhambra & Generalife Board goes, they say that their objective is to “modify” the Job openings relations (Job Position Relations) adapting it “to the real needs for the Alhambra & Generalife Monument from a structural point of view.”
They also say that they have not outsourced any job positions.
Editorial comment: If you do have friends or relative coming out over Easter with plans to visit the Alhambra, this is something to bear in mind.
(News: City & Metropolitan Areas, Granada, Andalucia)